Thermal quenching properties of Er-doped GaP

The photoluminescent properties of the Er-doped epitaxial layers of GaP prepared by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy were studied as a function of temperature. Strong characteristic Er3+ intra-4f-shell emission is observed over the temperature range of 12–300 K. The integrated intensity of the 0.805-eV emission is only weakly temperature dependent, decreasing by a factor of 2 as the temperature increases from 12 to 300 K. The observation of minimal thermal quenching indicates that Er-doped GaP is a promising material for optical devices emitting at 1.54 μm and operating at room temperature.